Janelle Monae Performs “Americans” on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

American singer-songwriter and actress Janelle Monae appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, where she performed “Americans”.
The song is included on her third studio album "Dirty Computer", which was released back in April.
It was written by Janelle Monáe, Kellindo Parker, Chuck Lightning, John M. Webb, Jr. and Nate "Rocket" Wonder.
The track is inspired by Barack Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech delivered on March 18, 2008 in Philadelphia: “if you’re black, that’s what you get used to in America…anger doesn’t get anything done, so you have to find out: How do you make it work? That’s why I was always maniacal about transforming every problem into a puzzle which I can solve. I can solve a puzzle—a problem just stresses me out.”

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The album "Dirty Computer" is her first LP in five years. During the 10-minute interview, she said the album is influenced from science fiction, “I loved being able to see these different worlds that were different from mine, that allowed me to kind of escape from where I was. It just stayed with me. I started to write science fiction as a teenager… It stayed with me throughout my work.”
And she said of the album title, “Humanity says that we are full of bugs and viruses because of our very existence, whether it be you being a part of the LGBTQIA community, being a black woman, being a minority, an immigrant, the marginalized. It speaks to what it means to say our bugs and viruses are attributes, we don’t need to be reprogrammed or deprogrammed—we’re fine how we are. We too are American.”